Gandhiji's relevance at 150 years

On the eve on the 70th Republic day celebration India has a special chief guest the President of South Africa. The importance of the guest has a relevance with Gandhiji's tryst with an important turn of life that changed his & India's destiny! This year is Gandhiji's 150th birth anniversary. The President of South Africa is the chief guest for the Republic day celebrations . The importance given to the country that made an ordinary man a MAHATMA & find his purpose - POWERFUL. The significance is also highlighted with the fact that the country goes to elections this year & the country is on the threshold of HOPE.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of our country for the very first time talk of Swacch Bharat Mission in 2014 to achieve a goal of Clean India by 2019- the 150th birth anniversary of the Mahatma.

What makes Gandhi so relevant even today is interesting. Every thought leader in the world, political, corporate or social entrepreneurs are all inspired by this SIMPLE, UNASSUMING yet POWERFUL leader we call "Father of the Nation." There must be some influences that helped him more from mortal to immortal. What are the factors that helped The Mahatma find himself is what intrigued me. The most authentic source is what i went to. I started reading his autobiography "My Experiments with Truth " to find out. Decided to write it in a series to bring out the leader, his influences , his foresight & undying influence even today. On the eve of our 70th Republic day I decided to begin:

Published in 1927, it is the simple translated version I am reading. At the very outset he tells us that the title is such as it will "....include experiments with non- violence, celibacy & other principles of conduct believed to be distinct from truth.......I hope to acquaint the reader fully with all my faults and errors..." Gandhiji's willingness to be vulnerable right there opens us up to accept him as he is thus he establishes his authenticity.

His influences are mainly his parents especially his mother who according to him had a " strong common sense".A mediocre student he was shy & was waiting to come back home as he did not want this classmates to poke fun. School was not a place he enjoyed going. The first book he read with a lot of interest & that had a huge influence on him was the Shravan Pitribhakti Nataka.- the story of the son who carried his parents for a pilgrimage. The picture & the book had a huge impact. The other play was that of Harishchandra. The play had a huge influence on his philosophy of speaking the truth always!

He then moves onto talk on his marriage at the age of 13 & how much he enjoyed every ceremony of the wedding & the rituals. He describes further ,the slow fashion in which he & his wife slowly became comfortable with one another. Of all the literature on marriage he read , “Life long faithfulness ….to the wife remained permanently imprinted on my heart.” Expecting her to do the same he says made him a jealous man & led to quarrels too.. Looking back he now understands she had to be given equal space , but he always wanted it his way! He loved Kasthuribai immensely though they did have a lot of time away from each other.

School days were important to him & he goes on to say how he was suddenly introduced to both English & Geometry & the faith his teacher had in him was the lone motivator for him to do well in both. Samskrit was another subject which he found tough but when he skipped the class once to try the easier Persian , his teacher openly speaking to him, encouraging him & saying how he wanted them to love Samskrit won Gandhiji over. He soon loved both the language & the teacher.

Tragedy in school however was a decision he regretted even later- a friendship he struck with a boy , everyone warned him against. His zeal to reform that boy had him do things he always regretted. He never realised how deep into the trap he was falling into. Meat was something they never ate at home but the friend convinced him to eat it to become strong. He did & enjoyed it too. He was so influenced by this friend that his relationship with his wife too was being effected. Being a devout Hindu wife he knew she had no place to go & regrets later the pain he caused her. Though forgiving himself is something that he could not do. The power of Truth is all that he talks about as the series will be continued: